


Settle

by Corvid_Knight



Series: Demonstuck [2]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Demonstuck, Gen, dirk and dave are little kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2020-01-15 01:57:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18488938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corvid_Knight/pseuds/Corvid_Knight
Summary: Two years later, D and Bro are still working on adjusting to their new kids.





	Settle

Maybe two nights out of seven, Dirk sleeps through the night. Having him sleep in bed with you doesn't really help, as far as you can tell, but at least when he wakes himself up with a low, terrified wail, he wakes you up too; all he gets out is that one cry. 

Then you're sitting up, not even really awake yet as you sweep him up into your arms and onto your lap. 

Fuck. 

Maybe three nights out of seven, he'll cry himself awake and just kind of...be awake, once he's up. It's still hell to get the kid back to sleep, but at least then he's only confused and tired; the night terrors don't always follow him. Tonight, though?

Well, the couple times that he's just screamed and jerked away whenever you touched him are technically worse, but Dirk sniffling out little sobs as he curls against your chest ain't exactly _good_ by any means. 

"It's okay, kiddo. I'm right here." That has absolutely no effect. You kinda knew it wouldn't, not on a fuckin' five year old. "It's just a dream, okay? That's all it was. Nothin's gonna get you." 

Dirk whines and shoves his face into your battered Green Day t-shirt that you got as...well, you're gonna call it a prize. For...yeah, for getting in a fist fight at a concert. Kind of a fist fight. The other guy had a knife. If he'd actually been focused on you and not on the kid next to you there mighta actually been a problem...

Goddamnit, do _not_ get caught up in the memory of like, one of the hottest humans you've ever been within arm's reach of. (Even if those green eyes are fucking _stunning._ ) Dirk. Focus on Dirk. On your kid. 

"Hey." 

"Uh-uh." Dirk tilts his head enough to give you a _look_ with one bright orange eye, like he's warning you to not ask. 

You ask anyway. "What was it this time, man?" 

The kid's shrug is more felt than seen; you're holding him securely enough that pretty much all that's really visible is the golden mess of his hair. "Dunno. Bad dream." 

"Kinda guessed that. You know what kind?" 

Another head-shake. (That's probably a good thing. He shouldn't have to carry the memories of nightmares.) 

"Wanna go back to sleep?" 

Dirk thinks about that for maybe a minute, slowly relaxing against you. Hell, maybe he's gonna fall asleep before he comes up with an answer on whether he wants to—

"Want your phone." 

Okay, maybe not. "One video. Ten minute one, no longer." When he nods and wriggles off your lap, you slide off the bed and step over to where you left your phone on the _extremely_ uncomfortable chair. 

And yeah, you hesitate before you toss it to Dirk, because you _know_ this is the easy way out, okay? You're perfectly fucking aware that you should be better than this, just hold him and talk him to sleep or something _normal_ , something that ain't just a cop-out like the dozens of parents that you've seen and sworn you'd never be like— 

Dirk watches you unblinkingly until you move back towards the bed. Then he reaches up and plucks the phone out of your hands, checks to make sure it's off, and curls back up in his little blanket nest with the damn thing hugged to his chest. 

Oh for fuck's sake. "Like Derrick with his first katana..." 

"Oh fuck off, D." Shit, you didn't even hear the door connecting his room with yours open, but when you jerk around Bro's standing there with Dave in his arms and a faint smile on his face. 

(Which on him is like. The equivalent of a dumbass grin.) 

On another note, how the _hell_ has he had that poor kid for nearly two years and _still_ not figured out how to hold him properly? Not that Dave seems to mind; he gives you an open-mouthed grin, holding his hands out to you and squirming against the hand that's supporting his bottom and the arm around his middle. 

"C'mere, you cutie." Bro rolls his eyes and relinquishes the two-year-old to you without a fight; Dave instantly wraps his arms around your neck tight enough that some professional assassins you've met would be proud. "Oof, kiddo—what're you doing up, anyway?" 

For an answer, Dave squirms and lets go of you to point at Dirk.

Bro shrugs, his little smile fading again. (Damn, here he goes.) "He knows when Dirk's havin' dreams." 

"So he's got good ears, he heard his bro scream." He's not gonna accept that. He's gonna start _that_ shit again. Hmm, how to distract him... 

"It's not his fuckin' ears," Bro grumbles while you're still thinking about that. When he holds his hands out, Dave leans away from you and back to him without a second's hesitation. "He _knows_ shit, D, it's not—" 

Behind you, Dirk rolls over, and keeps rolling until he runs out of bed. Dave watches with wide ruby eyes, but doesn't make a sound until Dirk shrieks in either surprise or pain. (Possibly both.) Then _he's_ screaming too.

Bro mumbles what you're guessing is the equivalent of "fuck" in some language that he's picked up and you haven't, and shoves Dave at you. You almost fucking _drop_ him. 

By the time you get yourself calmed down from that nasty jolt of adrenaline that hit in the heartbeat that you thought you were gonna drop the kid, Dave's clinging to you and whimpering and Bro's scooped Dirk up off the floor and back onto the bed, flopping back flat and pulling the kid onto his chest. 

"He okay?" you ask, even though you already know the answer. You saw your brother's hands move across Dirk's head, checking for bumps and bruises; the kid didn't even react. He's not hurt. 

"Fine. Right, Dirky? You good?" In response, Dirk mumbles something that's muffled by Bro's shirt. "Yeah, I'm staying in here." More mumbles. "D's stayin' too. Come down here, fucker." 

Yes, that is directed at you, and more affectionately than it probably sounds. Dave squeaks in alarm when you go to lie on the other side of the bed, but he lets you lay him down next to you, just like Dirk lets Bro set him in the space in the middle of the mattress, between your body and your brother's. Safe. 

For a second, Derrick meets your eyes. Orange-gold, like some jungle cat's, and for a second you wonder who or what the _fuck_ his father and yours was. Sure as fuck wasn't anyone normal, that's for sure, and technically this doesn't matter but still. You wonder. 

Then your bro blinks, and his eyes flick to Dirk, and that thought melts out of your mind with his next six words. "We oughta settle for a while." 

Honestly, if he suggested that you set the hotel on fire you'd have been less surprised. "We oughta _what_?" 

"Goddamnit, don't make me fuckin' repeat myself." He huffs and shifts a bit closer to Dirk, one hand coming in to smooth down the kid's hair (with very little effect) and yet again you have a moment of regret for how the two of you ended up dividing the care of the kids. Your bro is more comfortable with the younger image of himself than he ever will be with Dave; you almost wish—

No. That's a stupid idea; you know how Bro treats himself, that ain't gonna translate well towards being the primary guardian for Dirk, as the kid gets older. Then again, you're always gonna be right there to balance him out anyway...wait, fuck, there was a conversation going on here. An important one. "Clarify, not repeat. _You_ wanna settle down? Damn." 

"Bad choice of words. A base." 

Technically, that's not really clarification, but you know what he means even when the terse motherfucker refuses to give you more than two words to go on. "So just like. Pick a place and travel from there, huh?" 

"Kids need it."

Yeah, they probably do. Maybe it wouldn't totally fix Dirk's sleeping problems, but it'd sure as hell be easier to figure out how to accommodate his issues if you weren't changing hotel rooms every couple days. And maybe neither of the kids can ever have a totally normal upbringing—hunter kids never really can—but you could at least let them have...constancy. Beyond that of their immediate family, you and your bro and each other. 

"Yeah." 

"Yeah?" At this point his eyes are half-closed, like he's about to fall asleep, but there's no drowsiness in his voice. 

"Yeah, I'm gonna call Reaux. Betcha she's got a line on somewhere to base out of; you know she's been talking about it for her and the girls..." 

He just grunts and reaches down to retrieve your phone from Dirk's deathgrip, tossing it to you and pulling the kid up closer to quiet the softly complaining whine that rises. 

Will your sister be awake? Let's see. 

technicolorGladiator [TG] started pestering talismanicTrouvaille!

TG: ding ding ding pinging reaux  
TG: assuming you dont have your phone on silent   
TG: which you might since its like 

TT: 10:37.

TG: wait what   
TG: what timezone are you in 

TT: Texas. We're still working on that McMansion you and Derrick liberated from its owners.

TG: which one was that

TT: There was a reanimated elephant in the basement. 

TG: ohhh

TT: We've been cleaning chunks of it out for a _week_ , D. Did you cram a charge of C4 down its gullet?

TG: nah bro conned somebody out of a couple sticks of dynamite  
TG: he was gonna use it to take the whole fucking house down but we got distracted by the elephant zombie

TT: It wasn't a zombie, brother dearest. That would still be moving.   
TT: You're lucky you didn't try to blow up the house, actually. It doesn't seem to like things like that. 

TG: has it expressed a preference here

TT: Yes, actually.   
TT: You were in here, weren't you? Didn't some of the interior geography seem off?

TG: i kinda assumed that was just how rich people and/or demons built shit

TT: D, there is more room _inside_ than there is _outside._

TG: oh  
TG: huh  
TG: im gonna wake bro up and tell him i told you so  
TG: i KNEW something was fucky in there  
TG: like beyond people trying to sacrifice us to cthulhu or whatever

TT: The deity seems to be closer to the Goat With A Thousand Young, actually. Not that it matters.

TG: reaux when youre the one getting sacrificed to a goat then you can say it doesnt matter, stfu

TT: Oh, shush. The house is sapient.

TG: what

TT: It reacts to outside stimuli such as Daniel and I in a way that clearly shows reasoning abilities.   
TT: We spent a few days getting redirected outside and patiently going back in to clean and repair what it'd allow us to reach. 

TG: well fuck  
TG: i was gonna ask you if it was gonna be cleaned up enough for us to spend a while with you there but im guessing thats a no

TT: If you're bringing Dirk and Dave, it's actually an emphatic yes. The house seems to like children.  
TT: It started cooperating when John wandered in to complain about Roxy bullying him.

TG: pfffft  
TG: whatd she do?

TT: He said his father was tougher than her mother, so she knocked him down and sat on him.

TG: oh my god i love little kids  
TG: youd totally do that too

TT: Like mother, like daughter.  
TT: Anyway, we came out, found him missing, panicked for about five minutes, then went back in to look for him and found that the house had put a nursery where one of the downstairs kitchens used to be.  
TT: It started letting us explore without redirecting us, after that. 

TG: is that actually safe?

TT: Letting the children inside of the house? Why wouldn't it be?

TG: uh demon? duh?

TT: Remind me again of how many amorous adventures you've had with demons.

TG: okay yeah good point

TT: We can start with the ones I've walked in on you with. Then the ones I know about. Then the ones you think I _don't_ know about.

TG: please do not

TT: I should.

TG: no  
TG: look is the place actually safe?

TT: Well, we haven't started laying wards around it, but that's on the agenda. I've been talking to Roxanne and a few others; there's no usable safehouses in this area anymore, you know.

TG: not since the one in waco got taken

TT: Exactly. And you know we'll never get that one back.   
TT: This one should be better than that.

TG: you think?

TT: Think about it. A building with a consciousness, and as much space as is needed.  
TT: As long as we can ward it, it should be one of the best safehouses we have running right now.

TG: yeah makes sense  
TG: shouldnt take us more than a couple days to make it there

TT: Oh, excellent. You can help us finish scrubbing elephant blood off the walls.

TG: ew but i guess we deserve that  
TG: love you reaux  
TG: go the fuck to sleep okay?

TT: Only if you do.  
TT: Kiss the babies for me.

TG: hell yeah i will  
TG: give roxy a kiss and rose a hug from me n bro  
TG: oh and blow egbert a kiss too  
TG: im guessing i cant talk you into giving him like a full contact one right?

TT: Baby Egbert, yes. Daddy Egbert, no.

TG: please please please let me screenshot you calling him that

TT: _No._

TG: spoilsport

TT: Good night, D.

talismanicTrouvaille is offline!

TG: good night to you too sis

technicolorGladiator is offline!

The moment you turn your phone off, your brother's eyes open again. Not by very much, but enough for you to know he's still only faking sleep. Cunning asshole.

"She have somewhere for us?" he asks, just barely audible because any more would definitely wake Dirk, what with how the kid's snuggled up to his chest. 

"Yeah. A new safehouse." You keep your voice just as low, and Dave _still_ mumbles in his sleep and shifts next to you. "Shh, baby. You're okay." 

Bro snorts at the word _safehouse_ , which isn't at all surprising. "That shit ain't ever safe 'n you know it." 

"Mm. 's gonna be different this time." 

He opens his eyes for a second, just to give you that scornful look that you recognise from every time you've given him a really stupid plan. He doesn't need to actually say what he's thinking—that safehouses tend to last maybe a year or two before shit goes down in them, that this isn't really gonna be any more permanent than the hotels. 

You stick your tongue out at him, and after a second he rolls his eyes and smiles, reaching over to flick your nose gently enough that it doesn't even hurt. 

"Go the fuck to sleep, you fuckin' idealist." 

If two of your siblings are going to tell you to do that in under five minutes, you guess you probably should.


End file.
